Melendez recalls Peru’s 1970s glory years

MENDOZA, Argentina, July 8 (Reuters) - Nearly four decades have passed since Peru won the Copa America but Julio Melendez remembers it well.

He was part of the great Peruvian side of the 1970s, which won the Copa in 1975 for only the second time.
Back then, the tournament was played over more than three months across South America, with matches both home and away. The Peruvians beat Chile and Bolivia to reach the semi-finals and then stunned Brazil in the city of Belo Horizonte.
“We beat Brazil 3-1 in their own stadium, which was very satisfying,” Melendez, now 69, told Reuters in an interview at Peru’s training ground for the 2011 Copa.
In the final, Peru faced Colombia over three matches. Each team won once before Peru triumphed in the decider, winning 1-0 in Caracas. Barcelona striker Hugo Sotil scored the only goal of the match having arrived in Venezuela just hours before kick-off. For the first time since 1939, Peru were champions of South America.
“It was a great team,” Melendez said. We had “El Cholo” Hugo Sotil who was at Barcelona, at FC Porto there was “El Nene” Teofilo Cubillas, at Independiente there was Percy Rojas, and we had Oswaldo “Cachito” Ramirez. Those players gave us a lot of strength and experience.”
Melendez himself played in the Boca Juniors defence for several successful seasons, paving the way for other Peruvian players to make the trip southwards to play in Argentina.
Since their 1975 Copa victory, Peruvian football has been largely in decline. They reached the second round of the World Cup in 1978 and qualified for the 1982 tournament too, but have failed to reach any of the last seven World Cups. In 2010 they finished bottom of the South American qualifying group.
“It’s been years since we’ve been to a World Cup,” Melendez said.
“In Europe people ask ‘what happened to Peru?’ even though we still have a few players based in Europe, like Jefferson Farfan, Claudio Pizarro, Juan Manuel Vargas and Santiago Acasiete.”
Melendez says the arrival of new Uruguayan coach Sergio Markarian has led to an overhaul of the national team, with younger players being drafted into the squad.
In their opening Copa America match here - a 1-1 draw with Uruguay - they certainly looked to have improved. They face Mexico later on Friday in their second Group C match before taking on Chile next week for a place in the second round.
“This Peruvian team can reach the quarter-finals and maybe even the final,” Melendez said. “The last thing to die is hope.”